Deep Trouble
by TVfan
Summary: fifth in series The Maximals and the Predicons attempt to salvage pieces of the sunken Axalon as a new transformer arrives on Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Divided".

Deep Trouble

By TVfan

**Space**

A small Maximal spacecraft zoomed at light speed with its transwarp drive, and heading toward a certain goal that the single pilot of the ship had.

"I will find you, X," the transformer growled, "And when I do, you better hope your death is quick!"

Sensor alarms then rang out all over the ship's control panel and the transformer hurried to try and determine the problem. It turned out to be a quantum surge going through space.

"Slag," the transformer cursed as the ship hit the quantum surge head on.

**Secret Predicon Lab, Earth**

Megatron lightly whistled as he set the two blank pods into a prepared position and began connecting various wires to them.

"How do you plan to activate them?" Ravage asked.

Megatron chuckled, "That will be a matter of time. These pods are blanks, so there is no need to activate them, especially since the energon levels on this planet were destroyed by the aliens. And the stasis field that the sparks I intend to use for these pods will hold indefinitely, I have the luxury to wait until the best possible moment."

"And when is that?" Ravage asked, "Despite losing the Axalon, the Maximals are in a very good position."

"Yes, and that is why my plan must be followed to its conclusion," Megatron finished, "The aliens are the ones who invented the transmetal technology that you and I now use. In the Beast Wars, transmetals were created by accident. But since these aliens invented transmetal technology, that means they must have some sort of driver. I can not activate these pods until I find that driver, if it is on Earth."

"And if it isn't?" Ravage asked.

"I prefer to think optimistically," Megatron answered ignoring Ravage's question, "The driver is here, and eventually my scanners will find it."

"And what is the point of the Axalon?" Ravage asked, "There is nothing there of value and the Maximals have moved to the Ark."

"There is Sentinel," Megatron answered, "The Axalon's shield and defense system. With it, the Predicon base will be unconquerable."

"Unless the Maximals manage to defeat their own shield," Ravage warned.

"True," Megatron admitted as he finished his work and shifted to his beast mode and prepared to fly out of the mountain cave that the lab had been set up in, "But the Maximals merely wish to capture us, and there is our advantage. They are less likely to attack our base if we have Sentinel."

"So that is why Rampage and Inferno have been sent to the Axalon's location?" Ravage asked as the transmetal panther shifted to his own beast mode and rocketed off after Megatron.

"Precisely," Megatron smiled.

**The Ark**

"If you'll excuse me for askin'," Rattrap began, "But what is the importance of the Axalon now that Megs has sunk it?"

"Sentinel," Optimus Primal answered with a sigh, "Rhinox has done a lot of work to get the Ark up and running again, but he's still having trouble with the defense systems. We need Sentinel, just incase the Ark's defense systems can't be brought online."

"And Megatron is likely to make his own attempt to recover the system as well," Dinobot snarled, "We can not allow him to recover it… or…"

"What are you getting at Dinobot?" Optimus asked.

"We could destroy Megatron's base while he recovers Sentinel," Dinobot offered, "Yes he'd have Sentinel, but it would be useless to him."

"No," Optimus said firmly, "Megatron would only destroy Sentinel to make sure we couldn't liberate it and use it on the Ark. Blackarachnia will build the submersible. Rattrap, you, will pilot it to the wreckage of the Axalon and recover Sentinel. That is final."

Optimus then left the room, giving Dinobot or Rattrap no room to argue.

Meanwhile, Rhinox was busy with work relating to the Ark's computers when a sensor warning went off.

"Warning," the computerized voice announced, "Unknown object beginning planet fall."

"What in the world?" Rhinox asked to himself as he left his work to inspect what was going on.

Rhinox walked over to the scanning console to see what the scanners had detected.

"What is it?" Optimus asked coming into the bridge.

"The scanners have picked up something coming in from space," Rhinox answered.

"Alien?" Optimus questioned.

"No," Rhinox answered, "But I haven't got the computer systems entirely up to date, so that's about all I can tell you."

"Any chance of it being a stasis pod?" Optimus asked.

"No," Rhinox shook his head, "They all crashed to Earth when the aliens tried to kill all of us, but then you remember that."

Optimus nodded, "Prime. As if we're not going to be extended enough trying to recover Sentinel. Where's it headed."

"Again, I haven't got everything up and running yet, so I can't be sure," Rhinox began, "But my best guess is somewhere in the ocean to the south of this continent."

"There are some islands out there according to the maps that were on the Axalon," Optimus mused, "Maybe it will land there. Cheetor can investigate that while the others recover Sentinel."

**The Former Site of the Axalon**

Inferno was the first to move out into the area where the Axalon used to stand.

"Hurry up, you," Inferno yelled back, "We must secure the shield to protect the colony."

Rampage walked out in robot mode rather casually, not really caring about Megatron's plans for Sentinel.

"You know, if it weren't for Megatron's little Energon cage, I'd kill you, right?" Rampage growled at the insane ant.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Inferno answered, "The royalty commanded that we retrieve the shield. We will retrieve the shield."

Rampage sighed and walked over to the cliff that stood over the river that the Axalon fell into. Once the crab reached the edge he turned back to look at Inferno.

"You know," Rampage muttered, "I don't even know why you're here. I'm the only transformer that can go underwater."

Just at that moment, a small spacecraft flew over them at high speed, heading in a southward direction. The craft looked to be on fire from passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

"What the devil was that?" Rampage mused out loud.

"A meteor," Inferno shrugged, "Retrieve the shield."

"That thing had an engine, you idiot," Rampage growled back.

"I will report this to the Royalty," Inferno replied, "You recover the shield."

Rampage sighed angrily and dove off into the water.

**Predicon Base**

"It crashed here," Tarantulus reported pointing to a spot on a holographic map, "There's no way to tell if it was Maximal or Predicon, but the energy signature was definitely Cybertronian."

"Inferno and Rampage are the closest units and you have Waspinator searching for any other stasis pods in Sector Helix," Ravage added.

"Royalty!" came Inferno's voice over the radio.

Megatron decided to answer radio message, "Yes. What is it?"

"A meteor with an engine just flew over our position here," Inferno reported while Tarantulus smacked his head with his hand.

"Has Rampage recovered Sentinel yet?" Megatron demanded.

"Not yet, Royalty," Inferno answered.

Megatron sighed before speaking again, "Very well. I'm giving you a new mission. You are to join with Waspinator and head south from your current position. I want you to investigate what that 'meteor' you saw was."

"At once, my Queen," Inferno replied over the radio.

"I wish he'd quit calling me that," Megatron sighed as the radio went dead ending the transmission.

**Elsewhere**

Optimus set the submersible down in the water while Rattrap and Blackarachnia waited to move on to the next phase. They were upstream from where the Axalon used to stand, because it was unlikely that the submersible would have survived if it had been dropped from the cliff. Once it was in the water, Blackarachnia began to go over a check list of different devices that need to be checked. Rattrap meanwhile clambered toward the pilot's seat.

"You did make sure this thing doesn't leak?" Rattrap demanded toward the female spider.

"I knew I forgot something," Blackarachnia smirked.

It took a short while for Rattrap to figure out that she was joking before he muttered something under his breath and pulled the hatch shut. Optimus meanwhile looked up to see a small spaceship fly over his head, and he immediately activated his radio.

"Optimus to Cheetor," Optimus spoke clearly, "The spacecraft that Rhinox detected earlier just flew over our location. Get ready. It's headed south!"

After Cheetor gave his affirmative, Optimus turned to Blackarachnia and motioned to the submersible that Rattrap was already taking down the river.

"Can he defend himself if he's attacked?" Optimus asked, "We have no transformers that can work underwater. That's why we're using the submersible."

"It has weaponry," Blackarachnia nodded, "I don't know if it can damage Rampage, since you guys didn't give me the time to test some of this stuff."

"We don't have the time," Optimus said firmly.

"I'm not complaining," Blackarachnia answered, "I'm going back to base. See what Silverbolt is up to."

**The Spacecraft**

The transformer inside the ship came back online very weakly. The last thing it remembered was hitting the quantum surge right after he had entered the codes for his ship's transwarp jump. Looking out the window, he found that his ship had crashed in a watery environment as the glass was already cracking under the water pressure and he could hear water leaking into the ship elsewhere. Quickly moving to the computers he quickly punched in a series of command codes he would need to survive when the water pressure finally broke his ship's outer hull.

"DNA and replication scan process, beginning," the computer announced in its computerized voice.

Above, Cheetor circled around a cluster of islands looking for any sign of the ship. Possible wreckage in the water or an impact crater to indicate where the ship had landed if it had landed on one of the islands.

"Come on, it's got to be around here somewhere," Cheetor growled to himself in frustration.

"You won't find it!" came a confident voice from behind him.

Cheetor turned his head to see Inferno in robot mode and Waspinator in beast mode coming down on him from above.

"For the glory of the Royalty!" Inferno announced as he began firing at Cheetor with his blaster.

Waspinator transformed behind him and added his firepower to the battle. Inferno's first three shots hit Cheetor in the side, and Waspinator's first shot hit his neck. The resulting blast sent the transmetal cheetah reeling. Quickly recovering, Cheetor made a desperate effort to get to the ground on a nearby island. Inferno and Waspinator did little real damage to his transmetal body, but he had no weapons in beast mode and he couldn't fly in robot mode. He had to land.

Waspinator and Inferno circled behind Cheetor, firing at the retreating Maximal as they did so. Cheetor managed to dodge most of the Predicon's shots, but finally, one of Inferno's shots hit and destroyed one of his engines. Cheetor, shocked by the sudden loss of power, lost control of his flight and plummeted toward the earth.

"We have you now!" Inferno smirked as Cheetor crashed into the sandy beach of an island.

The two Predicons then dove down on Cheetor as he scrambled to get into his robot mode. He'd just finished transforming when a shot from Inferno and a shot from Waspinator hit him in the chest, knocking him backward into a rock cliff that was near the beach.

**The River**

Rattrap carefully maneuvered the submersible up the river that had been carving a canyon out of the rock. The water was dark and the transmetal rat had to rely on lights that were attacked to the exterior of the submersible to even see. He had slowly maneuvered the submersible to the bottom of the river, since the Axalon was likely to have sunk all the way to the bottom.

Rampage meanwhile, had swum all the way to the bottom. Having the form of a crab for his beast mode, Rampage could see very easily underwater and had already found the hulk of the old Maximal base. Large sections of the ship's hull had been ripped away by rock when it had fallen off its cliff top perch. Walking easily onto the former bridge of the ship, Rampage spent a few minutes searching he found a computer panel that bore the Maximal insignia and the word 'sentinel' printed in all capitol letters on it.

"This is too easy," Rampage laughed to himself as he ripped the panel out of the housing.

Rampage emerged from the hulk of the Axalon to see the lights of Rattrap's submersible getting closer.

"This will be interesting," Rampage chuckled.

Rattrap felt the entire submersible shudder as a torpedo exploded above him. The transmetal scrambled to find the weapons trigger that Blackarachnia had installed in the submersible. Pressing it, Rattrap watched as a torpedo shout from the submersible toward where the torpedo came from.

"Rattrap to Optimus, come in," Rattrap yelled into his own radio as he saw the torpedo explode ahead of him.

"Optimus here, have you located Sentinel yet?" Optimus replied.

"No, but I did find trouble real easy for ya!" Rattrap answered as he caught sight of another torpedo coming at the submersible, "I'm under attack."

Rattrap managed to avoid being hit by the torpedo, but the tightness of his turn combined with the shockwave from the torpedo's explosion, the submersible was knocked into river bank that made up the side of the cliff. Many of the finer computer systems then promptly went offline with the impact against the rock. He fired of another torpedo, hoping he was hitting whatever was attacking him, he assumed it was Rampage.

"Can you get to the Axalon?" Optimus asked over the radio.

Rattrap managed to get the damaged submersible to dodge another shot fired at him by Rampage.

"I don't think so," Rattrap answered, firing another shot in return to Rampage's shot.

He heard Optimus sigh heavily over the radio, "Surface and come back to my position. I can cover you from the air."

"Rampage won't need to surface to fire on me," Rattrap reminded his commander.

He heard Optimus mutter something about cursing the ocean.

"Don't worry, Boss Monkey," Rattrap comforted as he turned the submersible around and speed back up the river, "No one needs to tell this rat how to escape a sinking ship!"

"Running away?" Rampage growled as he saw the submersible turn away and begin to go back up the river, "Too bad!"

Rampage began following the submersible in his vehicle mode firing a torpedo at the sub as it went. The pilot that Maximals had chosen had to be decent, since most of Rampage's shots succeeded in only rattling the vehicle. The transmetal crab did not give up however and he continued to pursue the craft.

Rattrap swore the entire way back toward where Optimus was waiting for him. Without the finer pieces of computer technology working, Rattrap found navigating the trench that canyon was to be far more difficult, and Rampage's fire didn't help much. As he finally got the submersible back to where it could be beached, Rattrap slowed the vessel to a stop in the shallows and opened the top hatch.

Rampage had to restrain himself from laughing as he watched the craft slow to a complete stop ahead of him. Yes the river was shallow there, and the pilot could escape the craft, but he could still fire on it from where he was, and it was deep enough to keep the Maximals from returning fire. Slowly he pulled the trigger that fired another torpedo.

Rattrap had just gotten out of the submersible as the torpedo got close. The transmetal rat was surprised by the sudden explosion and knocked face first into the water, while Optimus lifted an arm to shield himself from the flying debris and water.

"Rattrap, are you alright?" Optimus inquired.

Rattrap stood up out of the water, spitting the water out his mouth, and answered angrily, "Sure. I'm just peachy!"

Optimus only sighed and then said weakly, "Hopefully Cheetor's having more luck with whatever that ship was."

**The Island**

Cheetor was trapped by Inferno and Waspinator against the cliff of the island that he had crashed on. Their fire was so intense that unless he found cover or help soon, he wouldn't be able to do much more than dodge their fire.

"You will burn, Maximal!" Inferno gloated as he continued firing.

The insane ant was then started by a new voice coming from behind him.

"Unlikely, Predicon."

Inferno and Waspinator turned to see a transmetal manta ray hovering behind them. It was mostly blue in color but there were hints of purple and silver in its armor.

"Fish can not fly," Waspinator exclaimed.

"I'm not a fish," the transformer answered, "Depthcharge, Maximize!"

Cheetor watched as the transformer shifted to its robot mode and pulled a large gun that looked like a shark out.

"You make me sick," Depthcharge growled at Inferno and fired.

The shot took out both Predicons and they crashed somewhere on the island behind Cheetor. Depthcharge then moved to land next to Cheetor.

"How are you, kid," Depthcharge questioned.

Cheetor inwardly flinched at the work 'kid', but answered, "I'm fine."

"I am to assume there is a Maximal colony here?" Depthcharge continued.

"No actually," Cheetor answered, "It's sort of a long story if you could come back to base with me."

"I might as well," Depthcharge answered, half to himself, "Let the commander know I'm here. Lead the way. Now."

Depthcharge moved to fly off, but turned after hearing a slight coughing sound to see the other Maximal standing there.

"I can only fly in my beast mode, and that was disabled before you arrived," Cheetor explained, "If you wouldn't mind giving me a lift?"

Depthcharge gave an angered groan but relented. Grabbing Cheetor by the shoulder, he flew off toward the continent to the north. It took Depthcharge about five minutes to reach the continent, but once he did he dumped the transmetal cheetah unceremoniously onto the ground.

"We will walk from here," Depthcharge said in a commanding voice.

"Okay," Cheetor muttered back, "So what brings you to Earth?"

"This is EARTH!" Depthcharge gasped and then thought to himself, "What in the name of the Matrix is X doing on Earth?"

"Yeah it is," Cheetor nodded, "Megatron came here after he stole the Golden Disks from Cybertron. Our ship followed him here and we've been at war ever since. So, why are you here and where's your ship?"

"I'm here on an extremely important mission from the Maximal elders that's all you need to know," Depthcharge growled back, "As for my ship. It was crushed under water."

The two continued walking in a rather uneasy silence.

**The Ark**

"Did you get Sentinel?" Rhinox asked as Optimus and Rattrap returned to the Ark.

"Megatron beat us to the punch," Optimus sighed.

"And I got a wetting for good measure," Rattrap added.

Rhinox only let out a depressed sigh, "I'd better get to work then. A Sentinel copy won't invent itself."

"What!" Rattrap gasped, "You could create a copy of Sentinel! And ya got me wet on top of it!"

"Sentinel was one of the most advanced pieces of technology that Cybertron has ever invented, Rattrap," Rhinox answered angrily, "It could identify and report threats. Sentinel can not only tell the difference between Maximals and Predicons, it can also tell the difference between individual transformers, such as you and Optimus. It could tell Cybertronian energy signatures from those of the aliens. Such programming is very complex. If this were Cybertron and I had access to all the proper tools, I would have advised that Megatron be allowed to have the original. We could easily build a new Sentinel on Cybertron and the original would likely to have been damaged. But here, here is a different matter. We don't have the tools or programming necessary to build a new Sentinel. Any copy made will not be as good as the original and will require more work and maintenance to operate. That's why the original was so important. However damaged it was, the original Sentinel would have been far more useful and effective than any copy I could make."

Rattrap quickly backed away from the larger transformer. He wasn't going to fight with Rhinox over the issue.

"If we only had a transformer that could work under water," Optimus intervened, "None of our beast modes can function under water. We may be able to swim, but going underwater is completely out of the question."

It was at that moment that Cheetor returned with Depthcharge close behind. The large manta ray transformer was quiet, while Cheetor announced his return.

"Then fear not, Optimus," Cheetor announced with a half grin on his face, "Meet the pilot of the ship that crashed… Depthcharge."

Optimus turned to see the transmetal manta ray and could only say, "Depthcharge?"

Depthcharge's own optics widened in surprise at the word 'Optimus' and the sound of the large ape transformers voice, but he quickly recovered and growled in a voice that betrayed a lot of anger, "Primal."

"What are you doing here, Depthcharge?" Optimus demanded, "You were assigned, last I knew to guard of Cybertron's colonies."

"I did, until your friend X destroyed it," Depthcharge yelled back.

"Did I miss something?" Cheetor looked up at his commander.

"Years ago the Maximal Elders commissioned the creation of a murder known as Protoform X," Depthcharge growled, "It was done and let lose on Cybertron…"

"We know Rampage's history," Cheetor interrupted, "Why are you fighting with Optimus?"

"You didn't let me finish," Depthcharge scolded, "I saw the damage that this monster did to Cybertron. When X was finally captured I urged the Elders to destroy it and save all of Cybertron from its evil. But Optimus had to save the greatest evil by allowing it to go into exile. Eventually it escaped and destroyed the colony I was guarding. I'm here to rectify the mistakes that…" Depthcharge then pointed an accusing finger at Optimus, "this idiot made. I'm going to destroy X and rid the world of his evil."

"First of all Depthcharge, I did not try to 'save' Rampage," Optimus answered, "Everyone has some amount of good in them. Even him. If we killed him as you suggested, we would have become him and gone against everything that the Maximal faction has stood for."

"Yeah, they stood quite well when Rampage escaped and killed every colonist and left me alive as some sort of cruel joke," Depthcharge snarled, "And why do you keep referring to X as 'Rampage'?"

"Because that is his name," came Dinobot's voice from behind him.

Depthcharge turned to see two raptors standing behind him. One was brown and male. The other was a forest green transmetal female. The female he didn't recognize, but he did recognize the male by its voice. Before anyone could stop them he pulled out his shark blaster.

"Take this Predicon!" Depthcharge roared and blasted Dinobot squarely in the shoulder.

The male raptor was knocked back into a wall and fell offline shortly after.

"Dinobot!" Rapther screamed in surprise looking at her fallen companion and then snarled at the manta ray.

"I got plenty more where that came from," Depthcharge snarled as his weapon reloaded and was aimed at Rapther's head.

Depthcharge didn't get a chance to fire again as a large hand came over his shoulder and crushed his weapon.

"Dinobot is a Maximal," Optimus said coldly.

Depthcharge pointed at the fallen raptor, "That is a Predicon. I read the reports. He is one of the Predicons that stole the Golden Disks! He seriously wounded two of the Maximals that were guarding them!"

"He also defected and recovered the Golden Disks for us," Rapther snarled, bearing her teeth, "And I ought to kill you myself you trigger happy lunatic!"

"You let Predicons into your service now?" Depthcharge roared turning on Optimus, "First you let X live to kill my friends and then you let Predicons join your group! What next? You gonna let Megatron destroy the Ark?"

"Dinobot may not be the traditional Maximal you expect, but he's a Maximal now, nonetheless and has fought bravely for the Maximal cause," Optimus said in an authoritative voice, "If he were a Predicon I would have him locked up to return to Cybertron for trial."

"That's what he is, Primal," Depthcharge growled, "He can't escape his past as a cold blooded murderer as you can't escape being an idiot!"

Optimus glared at him, "I won't stand for this…"

Optimus didn't get much of a chance to finish as Rapther transformed and used her beast mode's tail as a bullwhip and wrapped it around Depthcharge's neck.

"You will take what you said back," Rapther growled, "Dinobot is not a murderer. And no transformer even has blood."

Depthcharge winced in pain from the energy running through Rapther's tail whip. He found it hard to struggle, and if not for Optimus, he might have choked to death.

"Release him Rapther," Optimus ordered, "Depthcharge, I'm going to offer you a choice. You can fight with us against Megatron, or you can continue to fight against us and be imprisoned for treason. If Rampage destroyed the colony you were guarding you should have gone to the Maximal Elders with the issue..."

"I did," Depthcharge interrupted, "And they told me to go somewhere and recover. I will have my revenge on that monster and I will report you to the Elders for letting Predicons join your ranks."

With that Depthcharge abruptly turned, shoved Rapther aside and left the Ark as fast as he could.

"Can you say wako?" Rattrap commented after a short silence.

"Shut up, Rattrap," Optimus groaned.

"We're gonna have to go after him, you know," Rhinox warned, "Rampage's spark can't be killed and you know that Dinobot isn't going to take Depthcharge's assault on his person lightly."

"I know," Optimus sighed, "And with Megatron still out there, this is the last thing that we need."

**To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Divided".

Deep Trouble, Chapter 2

By TVfan

**The Ark**

"I'll kill that treacherous ray!" Dinobot roared as he emerged fully repaired from the CR chamber.

"He's taking it well," Rattrap quipped.

Rhinox only shook his head at the transmetal rat.

"Where is he?" Dinobot demanded, "He came here and attacked me personally without issuing a challenge! I demand to know his location."

"Easy, Dinobot," Rhinox encouraged as he lifted his arms up, "Depthcharge isn't here. He left shortly after he shot you."

"Where is he?" Dinobot growled again.

"We don't know," Rhinox answered, "Optimus, Cheetor, and Silverbolt are out looking for him now. Our orders are to guard the base against a possible Predicon attack."

"His attack on me was dishonorable and I deserve retribution," Dinobot argued.

"Optimus will deal with Depthcharge," Rhinox said firmly, "We are to guard the Ark."

Rhinox then turned to go work on some computer switches, leaving Dinobot to glare at Rattrap.

"Whatchya lookin' at me for?" Rattrap asked, "I don't know where he is."

Dinobot growled out a sigh, and stalked out of the room.

**Predicon Base**

Meanwhile, Megatron smiled as a transparent shield raised itself to surround the crashed Predicon ship.

"Yes!" Megatron laughed, "Yes!"

"Sentinel Shield is operating within expected parameters," Ravage reported from a nearby panel.

"Of course it is," Megatron smiled, "And now the shield is ours and our base is now unassailable."

"They can still attack and possibly overpower the shield," Ravage pointed out.

"Yes," Megatron nodded, "But the only one of them that would be willing to do so is Dinobot, and he can't do it by himself."

The discussion was about to continue when Sentinel's computerized voice interrupted everything.

"Approaching Predicon units," the Sentinel program announced, "Units Waspinator and Inferno. Lowering Sentinel shield."

Tarantulus sighed wiped his forearm across his brow, "Glad all the right alterations worked. I had the hardest time trying to break the codes that would make it a Maximal program."

Megatron ignored the transmetal spider's comment and focused on the two returning Predicons, "Now we'll see what that ship was about."

With that, Megatron turned and headed toward the base's main entrance to see what Inferno and Waspinator had to report. Both Waspinator and Inferno were damaged as they approached their leader.

"What was in that ship?" Megatron demanded.

"Powerful fish-bot!" Waspinator answered weakly, "We had cat-bot defeated and fish-bot did harm to Waspinator."

"The transformer is a Maximal and identified itself as Depthcharge," Inferno reported, "And it got the better of us, my Queen."

"Depthcharge?" asked Rampage as he came forward with Quickstrike and Ravage close behind.

"I believe that what he said," Megatron said with a hint of suspicion, "Do you know this transformer?"

Rampage answered with a partial laugh, "The name sounds vaguely familiar of some transformer I had the pleasure of mentally torturing before I was captured."

"We must identify this transformer," Megatron then announced, "See if Rampage's assumption is right. We don't want the Maximals to arrive here in force now, am I right."

The other Predicons nodded.

"If it is that same transformer," Rampage interrupted, "I doubt he was sent here by Cybertron. More likely he's looking for me."

"Then you shall be the perfect bait," Megatron smiled.

**Elsewhere**

"Hey Optimus," Cheetor spoke into his radio, "Cheetor to Optimus, come in."

"Optimus here, any sign of him?" the Maximal commander's voice answered back over the radio.

"Nothing," Cheetor answered, "It's like he just disappeared."

"Keep searching," Optimus commanded, "We've got to get Depthcharge under control before he either finds Rampage or before Megatron learns of his existence."

"Why?" Cheetor asked, "With all due respect, Optimus, he didn't exactly show any when he was at the base."

"We have the Predicons outnumbered, Cheetor," Optimus sighed, "Megatron knows that. That's why he took out the Axalon. That's why he took Sentinel. He's trying to deny us any possible advantage we could use. If learns of Depthcharge he may think he's part of a Maximal rescue force and do everything in his power to see that he fails."

The radio line was silent for a moment before Optimus continued, "And considering Depthcharge's obsession with Rampage, guess where he's probably headed."

Cheetor's optics widened, "The Pred base! Then shouldn't we go there?"

"No," Optimus countered, "We need to stop him before he gets there."

Below them, hidden in the jungle, Depthcharge watched Cheetor fly overhead in an obvious search pattern. The red optics of the transmetal manta ray narrowed angrily as he watched the transmetal cheetah fly overhead.

"You're blindly following an idiot," Depthcharge sighed to himself, "He's going to let that Predicon that Megatron sent destroy the Ark while he picks up the pieces."

Depthcharge looked down at the shark blaster in his hand and the said, "But not to worry. Once X is gone, I will make sure the Optimus Primal and Megatron won't be able to put anyone in danger again."

Depthcharge then opened a small compartment that was in one of his for arms, which revealed a special sensor device that was programmed to search out the spark of the transformer he was hunting. It displayed a small map with two dots. A small blue dot indicated Depthcharge's position, while a red dot indicated Rampage's position.

"Heading southwest," Depthcharge commented, "Almost heading toward me. I can cut him off here."

Depthcharge the closed the compartment and the headed off in a path that would lead him to his prey. More than an hour later, Depthcharge came into an area that was extremely desert like. There were no plants, only large boulders, and Rampage's signal was coming from inside a deep canyon. As the transmetal manta ray approached the edge of the canyon, he found Rampage sitting alone on a large rock.

"I've finally caught you, X," Depthcharge said triumphantly.

"Oh woe is me, I'm caught!" Rampage answered back in a voice that indicated that the crab didn't really care, "Pathetic!"

Rampage then pulled out his missile launcher and fired a barrage of missiles at Depthcharge. Depthcharge leaped into the air to avoid the missiles. Two missiles went low and flew off into the air, but the other two slammed into Depthcharge's chest and exploded. The transmetal manta ray screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

Quickly recovering and growling in anger, Depthcharge then aimed his shark blaster at Rampage and fired. The blast missed the crab and hit the rock he was sitting on. The explosion threw Rampage into the air, but the transmetal crab easily recovered while he was in the air and landed on his feet. Depthcharge fired again at Rampage. This time the blast hit home, sending Rampage flying backward down the canyon.

"You won't get away this time, X," Depthcharge snarled.

Depthcharge fired again while Rampage was still on the ground. The blast knocked the crab backward several feet until he landed in somewhat of a box canyon with huge rocks surrounding him. Rampage looked himself over to check for damage and found that his missile launcher had been knocked out of his hand.

"You're trapped, X," Depthcharge said coldly from the other end of the canyon, "You can't escape."

And that is when a third voice called out from above him.

"And neither can you!" roared Megatron's voice.

Depthcharge looked up to see a large red dragon fly out over the top of the canyon.

"Megatron, TERRORIZE!" Megatron announced as he transformed to his robot mode, and using his wings to keep himself in the air, aimed his dragon's head arm at Depthcharge.

Megatron then fired a powerful blast of fire at Depthcharge which knocked him to the ground. As Depthcharge staggered to his feet, he found his armor scorched and in a few places burned away, revealing his inner circuitry. He then turned to see a black version of the transmetal Maximal, Cheetor, land behind him.

"Ravage, TERRORIZE!" the Predicon announced.

Ravage transformed into his robot mode and fired his own laser weapons at the transmetal manta ray. The blast hit Depthcharge's shark blaster as he prepared to fire it and the weapon exploded. The explosion sent him tumbling into a large rock. Depthcharge checked the arm that had the blaster. The armor on his hand and forearm was practically gone. If he got hit in that spot again, he was sure to lose that limb.

"Well, ain't this a perdy picture," came a western twang-like accent from above him.

Depthcharge looked up to see a strange transformer that looked like it was part scorpion part cobra. Both sets of red eyes were focused directly on him.

"Quickstrike, TERRORIZE!" Quickstrike announced as he transformed and fired several shots down on Depthcharge from above him.

Two shots hit Depthcharge in his already damaged arm, one blast him squarely in the chest, and two more shots hit his other arm. The resulting explosion sent him tumbling against another large rock, and as Depthcharge anticipated, the arm that had already been damaged came off. He tried to recover and transform to his beast mode and fly out when he heard a series of insane chuckling coming from the rock he was leaning against.

"What the…?" Depthcharge began as the rock moved to a side and a spring loaded trap launched Depthcharge against the wall of the canyon.

A web of cyber-webbing soon pinned him where he was trapped and a large transmetal tarantula emerged from where the rock had been. It was the spider that was laughing.

"Tarantulus, TERRORIZE!" Tarantulus announced as he transformed and began firing at Depthcharge with his shoulder mounted machine guns, and didn't stop firing until Depthcharge dropped into stasis lock.

"Yeee-haw!" Quickstrike yelled in triumph, "We got ourselves a Maximal!"

"Yes we do," Megatron said while landing and pushing the fuzor out of the way, "Now we must get him back to base. Optimus will surely be looking for him and we don't want an all out battle yet."

**The Ark**

"Any sign of them?" Rhinox asked as Optimus, Cheetor, and Silverbolt returned.

Optimus sighed with a defeated look on his face, "No. Right now I'd hope that Megatron has Rampage out on some mission far away from the Predicon base. If he attacks it while Sentinel is active, he won't last long."

"We should launch a frontal assault on the base now, while their sill trying to fully install it," Dinobot snarled coming forward from inside the Ark, Rapther at his side, "The Predicons have managed to disable Sentinel by using the same tactics."

"They took the outer shield down, yes," Optimus sighed, "But Sentinel was never disabled, and with the importance of the Ark, we can not risk sending out a force that could overpower the Sentinel shield and the Predicons inside their base."

Dinobot only growled, "You are letting Megatron dictate his terms in the war."

"I know, Dinobot," Optimus sighed in a frustrated tone, "But Megatron and I are the only Transmetal 2's at the moment. I would be needed to insure that once the Sentinel shield is defeated that the Predicons are defeated. But with the Sentinel program, Megatron will see us coming a mile away and could sneak away and destroy the Ark while we defeat the Predicons. And then it won't matter. We're stuck in a position where Megatron is the only one holding the cards."

Dinobot only growled again.

**Predicon Base**

Inferno was the first to emerge from the Predicon CR tanks. As the insane ant gathered his senses he activated his thrusters and flew to the main computer panel.

"I must figure out where the Royalty has gone," Inferno commented out loud, "So I can…"

"Unit: Megatron is currently ten miles southwest," the Sentinel computer announced.

"Who said that?" Inferno demanded, pulling out his blaster and whirling around.

"Sentinel computerized defense program," the computer answered.

The ant was quiet for a moment before a series of sudden beeps surprised him.

"Attention, alien energy signature detected," the Sentinel computer announced.

"Where?" Inferno demanded.

"Exact source is unknown," the Sentinel program answered, "It is somewhere in the ocean basin to the south of this continent.

"Underwater?" Inferno asked.

"Correct," the Sentinel program answered and then turned to a new report, "Units: Megatron, Tarantulus, Ravage, Rampage, and Quickstrike returning. Lowering shield."

Inferno watched as Megatron and the others returned with a Maximal prisoner in his dragon's head hand.

"Royalty!" Inferno called out, "Sentinel has detected an alien energy signature in the ocean to the south of us."

Megatron scowled at the ant and then turned his head to the computer.

"Confirm," Megatron commanded.

"Affirmative," Sentinel answered, "alien energy signature in the sea south of us, but exact location is impossible to determine."

Megatron looked over at Rampage and then at the offline Maximal he had been dragging behind him.

"And I'll have just the bots to retrieve the device for me," Megatron smiled.

**Hours Later**

Depthcharge awoke to find himself feeling rather strange. His personal hatred for Rampage remained the same, but he now found himself hating the Maximals in general and small desire to rule was now present in his mind. The transmetal manta ray couldn't explain this and slowly sat up.

"Good evening, Depthcharge," came a deep commanding type voice from in front of him.

Depthcharge slowly opened his optics to see that he was sitting on a large table and looking at the large red dragon transformer in his robot mode.

"Megatron," Depthcharge growled.

"Ah, you recognize your new lord and master," Megatron smiled, "Very good, yes."

"I will never serve you," Depthcharge growled.

"But you are a Predicon," Megatron pointed out, "It is your very duty to serve me."

"I am not a Predicon," Depthcharge tried to assert, but his voice didn't sound entirely sure.

"Check your programming," Megatron shrugged, "I won't stop you."

Depthcharge then ran a quick systems check on all his functions. Everything came up that his current systems and codes were Predicon in nature, but they did register that they were originally Maximal.

"You…" Depthcharge challenged pointing an accusing finger at Megatron.

"Yes, I altered your personality traits and command codes," Megatron laughed turning his back on Depthcharge, "You are for all intents and purposes a Predicon."

Depthcharge growled and leaped from the table onto Megatron's back. Using his weight, Depthcharge managed to drag Megatron backward until his feet were back on the ground. The transmetal manta then noticed that Megatron didn't look at all concerned with the situation he was in. Megatron merely opened a compartment in his shoulder and produced an energon cage and placed it inside his dragon's head hand. He then squeezed with that hand. The sharp teeth of the dragon's head biting into the energon cage.

Suddenly Depthcharge felt overwhelming pain surge through his body. He released his grip on Megatron and fell to the floor. Megatron only laughed.

"I also took the liberty of surgically removing a portion of your spark to insure your loyalty," Megatron gloated, "It's a small piece, mind you, but it allows me to insure that you do not cause me trouble. Serve me faithfully, and you will receive no pain. Dare oppose or betray me…"

Megatron squeezed on the energon cage again. Depthcharge let out a pained scream as the Predicon tyrant did so.

"… and I will put you in the most horrible pain imaginable," Megatron finished, "Is that understood?"

Depthcharge looked up at Megatron and saw the triumph in the dragon's eyes.

He looked down at the metal floor below him and whimpered, "Yes."

"Very well," Megatron replied, "Sentinel has detected an alien signal in the ocean to the south of this continent. I want you and Rampage to go there and retireve it for me."

"X!" Depthcharge roared, "I hate him! I will not work with him! It doesn't matter what you've done!"

Megatron opened his shoulder compartment to reveal the energon cage again.

"Never mind," Depthcharge sighed, "I'll go."

"Good," Megatron nodded, "No go. Rampage already has a five minute head start."

Depthcharge transformed to his beast mode and slowly and in a defeated manor flew out of the Predicon base.

Two hours later, Depthcharge and Rampage arrived at the sea coast. The transmetal manta ray transformed and stood where the surf was just barely able to reach his feet. Rampage remained in his beast mode.

"Amazing after all those years of wanting revenge, here we are," Rampage laughed, "Side by side. The perfect duo."

"Shut up," Depthcharge growled, "The sooner I can free myself of Megatron and rid the universe of you, the better I'll feel."

"You can't do that," Rampage laughed as he walked into the surf on his crab legs, "Megatron did the same to me, removing part of my spark, to insure control. It involves some crazy surgery that I don't know how to perform. You'll be stuck serving him forever!"

Rampage laughed as he walked beneath the waves and disappeared from Depthcharge's line of vision. Depthcharge sighed and followed the transmetal crab into the ocean. The Predicon programming that Megatron had installed in him was beginning to take greater and greater control over him. He still hated Rampage, but the prospect of finding this alien device and possibly gaining power from it seemed quite attractive to him.

Once underwater, Depthcharge switched back to his beast mode and began swimming along the bottom of the ocean

Meanwhile in the forest near the beach a pair of eyes watched the two transformers disappear beneath the waves. A short but growling sigh was heard shortly after.

"What is it, Dinobot?" Rapther asked coming up beside the male raptor.

"I believe Optimus's hope of finding Depthcharge before Megatron is about to be crushed," Dinobot gave a sighing answer.

"What?" Rapther asked.

"Megatron's done something to him," Dinobot answered, "Come, we'd best return to the Ark. Optimus… should know of this."

**The Ark, Later**

"Well, our copy system should be ready to start up," Rhinox sighed, "Hope it works."

The Maximal's main scientist then pulled himself out from a laying down position under a computer panel to turn to Optimus and a few other present Maximals. Optimus only nodded.

"Okay Rattrap, give it a go," Optimus commanded.

"Okay, here goes nutthin'," Rattrap said as he closed his eyes and pressed the button that he was told to push.

The computer consoles sparked for a few moments, but a transparent shield soon raised itself around Ark and the rocks that covered it.

"Way to go Rhinox, you've done it!" Optimus exclaimed.

Rhinox gave a slight smile, and then said, "We'd better lower the shield. Dinobot and Rapther will be returning from their patrol soon."

Rattrap nodded and pressed the button again, and the shield lowered. Five minutes later, a very troubled looking Dinobot and Rapther returned.

"Was there anything worth noting about your patrol?" Optimus asked as Dinobot took a seat in one of the command chairs.

"I'm afraid I must be the bearer of bad news," Dinobot answered.

Optimus sighed and looked down, "What it is it?"

"I'm afraid Megatron was able to get to Depthcharge first," Dinobot said quietly.

"He's dead?" Optimus asked.

"Negative," Dinobot sighed, "He was captured and turned into a Predicon."

"Like what he did with me?" Rhinox asked.

"Affirmative," Dinobot nodded, "But he's also done the same thing that he did to Rampage to him."

"Things just got harder," Optimus sighed, looking down.

**Ocean**

Depthcharge had spent hours swimming along the bottom of the ocean. He had his onboard sensors scanning on all frequencies for the alien signal that Sentinel had detected at the Predicon base. Suddenly he bumped into a large green object that looked like a large egg lying perfectly upright at the bottom of the ocean. Depthcharge transformed and felt the object with his hands. Strangely, the exterior of the "egg" looked like it was some organic pattern, but it felt like metal, not stone and certainly not anything organic.

"Depthcharge to X," Depthcharge spoke into his radio, "I believe I've found it."

"Well, don't just stand there," Rampage's voice answered back, "Take it!"

Depthcharge nodded in obeying the over the radio command and produced his shark blaster and took a step back. He then fired, and the resulting explosion ripped the "egg" perfectly in half. It revealed a small sphere covered in red dots and hovering above a small platform. The sphere pulsed with a strange energy.

"Definitely the alien energy signature," Depthcharge commented as he grabbed it and begin swimming in robot mode back toward shore.

Depthcharge found Rampage waiting for him on the coast.

"So did you do anything important while I found this?" Depthcharge challenged while holding up the alien device.

"Oh I found something, but I think I'll keep it to myself for now," Rampage chuckled, "Come on let's get back to base."

Rampage then switched to his tank mode and sped off, kicking sand in Depthcharge's face. The transmetal manta ray's optics narrowed on the crab.

"I will have my revenge on you," Depthcharge threatened, "You have my word, X."

**Predicon Base, Later**

Megatron smiled as Depthcharge handed him the device.

"Yes," Megatron smiled, "Now things are moving along nicely. Soon I will have the numbers needed to destroy Optimus Primal and his pitiful band. The Aubobots in the Ark will be destroyed and Predicon rule will be established!"

"Now the two blank pods will be activated?" Ravage asked.

"No," Megatron shook his head, "We need to make sure this is the transmetal driver. Right now all we know is that it is alien."

Ravage nodded, assuming that the device was to be tested.

"And while Tarantulus assembles the tools needed for the tests that this device will need to be put through," Megatron continued, "I think it's time we show Optimus what a good Predicon Depthcharge has turned out to be."

**To be Continued…**


	3. Chapter 3

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "Divided".

Deep Trouble, Chapter 3

By TVfan

**The Ark**

"The sensors indicate metallic objects leaving the coordinates we've designated as the Predicon base," Rhinox reported.

"Megatron must intend to introduce us to the 'new' Depthcharge," Optimus sighed as he looked over the brown and green transformer's shoulder.

"But…" Rattrap blurted from behind them, "I thought you said this would work like Sentinel! Shouldn't you know whether they're Maximal or Pred?"

"They're similar," Rhinox answered seriously, "But this is no where's near as advanced as Sentinel is. From now on, whoever is on monitoring duty will have to do a much larger amount of work."

Optimus ignored the exchange of words between Rhinox and Rattrap and asked his next question.

"Can you track them?"

"Don't have to," Rhinox shook his head, "If they keep going along their current path, they will end up here."

"We'll try to head them off," Optimus answered, "Rhinox, I want you to remain here and track the Predicons. Radio if they change direction or anything."

Rhinox nodded while the others slowly filed out of the room. Cheetor quickly moved to tap Optimus on the elbow as they moved to leave the Ark.

"Big bot, what do you want done with Depthcharge?" Cheetor asked, "We can't kill him."

"We may have to," Dinobot growled from behind them, "If Megatron has altered his programming to make him a Predicon and taken measures that will insure Depthcharge's loyalty he may be willing to fight us. And if he fights, he stands the chance of being defeated and being killed."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Optimus said firmly, "Any attack on Depthcharge is to be an attack that is intended to knock him out. Then we can simply repair the damage that Megatron has done to his circuitry."

"What about the piece of his spark that Megatron has?" Silverbolt asked, "Dinobot reported that Megatron is controlling him the same way he controls Rampage. Getting that spark fragment will be tricky, especially since I doubt Megatron would keep that spark fragment out where it could be easily taken."

"I'll deal with Megatron," Optimus said in an extremely determined voice that left no room for argument.

**Elsewhere**

"I do not like this," Ravage commented as flew in his vehicle mode behind Megatron, "There is no strategy and the Maximals will surely know we are coming."

"Maybe so," Megatron answered, "But Optimus has never been suited to being a general. He doesn't treat this war that we are fighting as a war. As far as he knows, Depthcharge is a Maximal, and when he learns that he is now a Predicon, he will foolishly try to save him. That will be his downfall."

"If my memory serves correct," Rampage yelled from the ground as he raced along in tank mode, "Optimus and Depthcharge didn't exactly get along when Depthcharge was a Maximal."

"You dare presume to question me?" Megatron growled.

"No," Rampage answered quickly, "I'm happy with any chance to kill something."

"Waspinator has a question," Waspinator asked from his position above the other flying Predicons.

"Yes?" Megatron answered in an agitated manner.

"What do we do with Fishbot once Maximals are defeated?" Waspinator asked.

"One problem at a time," Megatron answered and then looked forward to see the large transmetal 2 ape and the other available flying Maximals flanking him.

The Predicon tyrant quickly noted their presence and turned to Depthcharge who was flying in his own vehicle mode behind them.

"Depthcharge, go below the tree line," Megatron commanded, "I wish for your presence with the Predicons to be a surprise."

Depthcharge grumbled something under his breath, but followed Megatron's command. The last thing he wanted was to be for the Predicon tyrant to torture him through his own spark.

Ahead of them Optimus watched the Predicons approach. He didn't see Depthcharge with them, but given Dinobot's earlier report and his knowledge of Megatron, Optimus knew that the transmetal manta ray had to be nearby.

"Get ready," Optimus commanded to Cheetor and Silverbolt.

The Maximal leader then activated his radio to speak to Dinobot, Rapther, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia on the ground.

"Be ready," Optimus said clearly, "Megatron will surely attack with all of his available forces. Just because only a few are visible, doesn't mean the others are missing."

"Affirmative," Dinobot answered over the radio, "Rampage is surely with them as well. I can hear his tank mode knocking over trees."

Optimus checked his audio sensors. Dinobot was right. He then turned to watch Megatron and the other flying Predicons approach. The Maximal leader decided not to give Megatron the advantage of striking first in this battle. He activated his cannons and immediately fired on Megatron.

The blasts hit Megatron directly in the chest and knocked him back five feet in the air.

"I told you," Ravage growled, still hovering in his vehicle mode, "The Maximals were waiting for us!"

"Shut up and deal with the other Maximals!" Megatron commanded, "Predicons, attack!"

Ravage gave a frustrated growl and dove down toward the ground where he could fight. Inferno saluted and charged toward Cheetor and Silverbolt, screaming as he went. Waspinator simply joined in the insane ant's charge. On the ground, Rampage, Quickstrike, and Tarantulus began scanning the area to find the rest of the Maximals. Depthcharge meanwhile hung back, remembering that Megatron intended for him to be a surprise for Optimus.

Megatron meanwhile stared at Optimus for a few moments, as if he were waiting for the Maximal to do something.

"What?" Megatron challenged, "No destiny and honor speech?"

"Speech this!" Optimus challenged back as he rocketed forward and punched Megatron in the face.

"You disappoint me, Optimus," Megatron replied, "You can't remain your 'knight in shining armor' image if you actually fight."

"I'm here to stop you, Megatron," Optimus answered as he fired on Megatron again.

Megatron easily dodged the shot and fired a fire blast at Optimus. The transmetal two ape blocked Megatron's shot.

Cheetor meanwhile dove downward to get to the ground where he could fight. He found that Ravage followed close behind.

"Take this ya copycat!" Cheetor yelled as he landed, Maximized, and fired a laser blast at Ravage.

The transmetal Predicon that looked almost exactly like Cheetor, except that he was entirely black, was thrown back a few feet by the blast, but easily recovered.

"It will take more then that to defeat me, young one," Ravage cautioned and returned Cheetor's fire.

Silverbolt found things much tougher as he was forced to dodge fire from both Inferno and Waspinator.

"Hmm, we get Doggybot this time!" Waspinator said in jubilation.

"You're gravely mistaken if you think that," Silverbolt answered as he grabbed Waspinator by the Predicon's chest plate armor, then while dodging more of Inferno's fire, Silverbolt threw Waspinator at the insane ant.

"What are you doing, you fool?" Inferno demanded to Waspinator before the Predicon wasp hit him.

Silverbolt followed this up by firing his wing missiles at both of them. The resulting explosion sent both tumbling to the ground almost a mile away. Silverbolt then dove to the ground to provide aide to the rest of the Maximals on the ground.

Tarantulus watched as Rampage and Quickstrike began firing blindly into the surrounding jungle. No Maximal was in sight, but they were firing away.

"What are you shooting at?" Tarantulus demanded as he approached the fuzor and transmetal.

"Nothin' yet," Quickstrike muttered, "We's gonna flush 'em out and then slag 'em."

"You fool, this is a jungle, they could be anywhere," Tarantulus growled, "Don't shoot till you see a Maximal!"

The three proceeded to advance cautiously, scanning the surrounding jungle for any sign of the Maximals. After a few steps they came into a small clearing in the jungle. Tarantulus looked up to see Optimus and Megatron locked in battle above them, while at the other end of the field, Ravage and Cheetor were trading laser shots.

"There's a Maximal!" Quickstrike shouted with glee and began firing at Cheetor.

"Can't I catch a break?" Cheetor mumbled as he ducked under one of Ravage's shots only to be hit in the side by Quickstrike's shots.

"Here's one," Rattrap said emerging from behind a tree nearby.

The transmetal rat fired three shots from his blaster. One hit the ground harmlessly, but the other two hit Quickstrike squarely in the chest, knocking the Predicon fuzor back several feet. At the same time, Rapther leaped from the bushes near Tarantulus and Rampage. The transmetal female landed on Rampage's shoulder while still in beast mode and knocked the transmetal crab's rocket launcher out of his hands with her tail. Rampage then threw her off of him.

"I don't need a weapon to defeat you female!" Rampage snarled.

"Bring it on," Rapther growled back as she Maximized.

Tarantulus watched as Rampage and Rapther battled to his left and while Quickstrike struggled to get behind the pile of fallen trees that Ravage was using for cover.

"There must be at least one more Maximal here," Tarantulus muttered out loud, "But where?"

Blackarachnia lowered herself down on a cyberwebline behind Tarantulus.

"There are no more Maximals here," Blackarachnia cackled startling the transmetal tarantula, "But there is a Predicon who knows that she can't be a Predicon under its current leadership. Blackarachnia, TERRORIZE!"

Blackarachnia finished transforming and then in a single motion, jumped up in the air and did a spinning kick that knocked Tarantulus into Rattrap's line of fire.

"And I'd love nothing more than to be personally rid of you!" Blackarachnia finished.

Meanwhile, still hidden in the bushes, Dinobot observed the battle. Rattrap and Cheetor had Quickstrike and Ravage in a virtual stalemate. Rapther actually had the upper hand on Rampage, since without his missile launcher, the transmetal crab was not nearly as tough an opponent. Blackarachnia seemed to be dominating the battle between herself and Tarantulus as she attacked the transmetal tarantula fast and hard with martial arts moves that Tarantulus couldn't counter. Dinobot also noticed that Silverbolt had arrived from above to provide air support. That meant that Inferno and Waspinator were either out of the fight or temporarily distracted. Either way, Dinobot was not desperately needed here and the male raptor began moving in search of the transformer he did wish to do battle with. Depthcharge.

Depthcharge was meanwhile waiting in a position where he could wait for Megatron's signal to join the battle against the Maximal commander. He listened to Megatron insult Optimus Primal and he listened to Optimus retort back. Secretly to himself, Depthcharge wished he could overthrow the Predicon programming that Megatron had written into his software. Even if could though, Depthcharge openly questioned whether or not he would actually help Optimus or not. The sound of approaching footsteps broke the transmetal manta ray out of his thoughts.

Depthcharge turned to see Dinobot emerge from the jungle to approach him. The male raptor had his sword and shield spinner drawn.

"I see you survived," Depthcharge commented as he drew his shark blaster.

"That I did," Dinobot answered simply.

"You won't survive this time," Depthcharge growled as he fired his shark blaster at Dinobot.

Dinobot used his shield spinner to block Depthcharge's shot and fired his optics lasers at Depthcharge's weapon. The transmetal manta only turned and used one of his fins as a shield, suffering little damage from Dinobot's attack. Undaunted, Dinobot surged forward and leaped over the transmetal manta ray and then used his sword to knock Depthcharge's shark blaster out of his hands. Startled at the loss of his weapon, Depthcharge only responded by punching the Maximal raptor. Dinobot was knocked back several feet by the blow and more importantly, he lost his weapons as a result of the blow.

"I am not dependent upon my weapons, Predicon," Depthcharge said with a great deal of confidence.

"And I do not fear you," Dinobot said back as he got to his feet.

Meanwhile, Megatron and Optimus's battle was becoming more and more heated. Optimus tried using his cannons on the Predicon tyrant again. What Megatron couldn't deflect he largely avoided.

"You're getting soft, Optimus," Megatron taunted as he fired another fireball at the Maximal commander, "It almost makes my surprise unnecessary."

"What surprise?" Optimus questioned, trying to hide the fact that Dinobot had already reported what Megatron had done to Depthcharge.

Optimus the rocketed forward and tried to get Megatron more into a fist fight instead of a firefight.

"Oh, one I'm sure will haunt you for days to come," Megatron smiled, "Have you come across any new Maximals recently?"

Optimus remained silent and threw another punch, hoping the Predicon's flare for the dramatic wouldn't stop anytime soon. Megatron easily deflected the blow and knocked Optimus back.

"Because we came across one not to long ago," Megatron continued, his smile undiminished.

Optimus growled as unleashed another blow on the dragon-like Predicon. Megatron was still smiling, even as he rubbed his chin.

"So you have met him?" Megatron questioned, "Well, I suppose there's no need to hold out on you any longer."

Megatron then activated his radio and said clearly enough that Optimus could hear him, "Depthcharge, now!"

Optimus tensed and prepared to be attacked by the transmetal manta ray. After a short while Optimus returned his full attention to Megatron. The Predicon tyrant looked as if he was going to literally blow a gasket.

"Depthcharge didn't always follow orders well when he was a Maximal," Optimus smirked.

"What!" Megatron demanded, "You know…"

Optimus rocketed forward and grabbed the Predicon tyrant, intending to slam him to the ground.

"Yes," Optimus said clearly, "I know what you've done to Depthcharge. And let me tell you this, Megatron. I will do EVERYTHING that is within my power to see that what you've done to him is undone."

Optimus slammed Megatron into the ground with all the strength he had. The result of the two transmetal two's crashing into the ground was several objects of lighter weight being thrown into the air.

"Depthcharge!" Megatron roared into his radio, "This is Megatron! I demand you answer me!"

Optimus quickly grabbed the Predicon tyrant by his neck and placed on foot on his chest. Megatron tried as hard as he could to break free, but Optimus made sure that the red dragon didn't move. Optimus prepared punch Megatron in the face when he looked up and saw that Depthcharge couldn't have intervened on Megatron's behalf even if he wanted. When he looked down, he saw that Megatron was still screaming into his radio.

"I'm afraid that he can't help you," Optimus almost chuckled, "He has some troubles of his own."

Megatron painfully angled his head so that he could see what was going on that Optimus was motioning to. He could barely make out Depthcharge battling the Maximal, Dinobot, and that the battle was currently at a stalemate.

"Blast that Dinobot!" Megatron growled before Optimus knocked him out with a powerful blow to the head.

Optimus then forcefully opened the compartment on Megatron's shoulder where he had kept the portions of Depthcharge's, Rampage's, and Tarantulus's sparks. Optimus sighed as he saw the third energon cage as he realized that Megatron must have done something to insure his control over one of the other Predicons.

"Primus forgive me for what I must do," Optimus sighed as he lifted out one cube.

Rampage was not happy with his situation. He had lost his weapon and in one attempt to retrieve it, Rapther destroyed it with her rockets. Since then he was being out maneuvered by the smaller femmebot, and when he did attack with force, Rapther quickly recovered and used her rockets on him.

"I've had enough of you!" Rampage growled as he grabbed Rapther by and arm and threw her into the trunk of a tree.

The transmetal crab did not get a chance to take advantage of his brief victory as an intense pain radiating from his spark engulfed him.

"Aaarrrgh! Megatron, what arrrrrgh… are you doing?" Rampage asked a loud to no one in particular between screams of pain.

Rapther saw that large transmetal was suffering from the method of punishment that Megatron used when the crab disobeyed his commander. Quickly recovering from her impact with the tree, the female raptor took the situation to her advantage. She quickly leaped and kicked Rampage in the midsection while he was still in the grips of the pain on his spark. Then as the crab stumbled back, she fired her rockets at him. All six hit, and Rampage was knocked to the ground.

"Slag," Rampage cursed as he pulled himself up, finally getting over the pressure on his spark, "I'm getting out of here. If Megatron is punishing me for doing what I'm told, then I'll really be glad when the Maximals come to take him away."

The transmetal crab then converted into his vehicle mode and roared off in the direction of the Predicon base.

Optimus sighed has placed the first energon cage down. He hated having to figure out which one was the one that contained Depthcharge's spark by squeezing it, thus putting whoever's spark it was in direct pain, but Megatron didn't have any marking on them to indicate which was which. Sighing again, Optimus reached in and took out the next energon cube.

Blackarachnia was enjoying herself in her battle with Tarantulus. The transmetal tarantula had better protection and more powerful weapons, but Tarantulus was never much of a fighter. He did well when he could ambush an opponent and pin him down. When he was the one who was ambushed or caught in a battle that was somewhat evenly matched, Tarantulus often found himself at a disadvantage. Blackarachnia used this to her advantage by using a combination of speed and martial arts moves as well as firing her machine guns at him that were normally her beast mode's legs.

This allowed Blackarachnia to inflict heavy damage on Tarantulus without taking little if any herself. It also set Tarantulus up to take various hits from fire coming from Silverbolt, who was still coming in to fire on the Predicons from the air, and from Rattrap or Cheetor.

"Not so much fun for you when you not the one won winning, isn't it?" Blackarachnia teased, "But I got to tell you, it's fun for me."

Tarantulus answered by firing his shoulder mounted machine guns at the femmebot. Blackarachnia easily managed to avoid being hit by the barrage, but when she dodged Tarantulus's fire, she bounced off of a tree that had been seriously damaged from laser fire. The sudden impact of Blackarachnia's weight was too much for the tree and it began to fall towards the ground. The she spider had no time to get out of the way as the tree landed on her. It wasn't big enough to crush her, but she couldn't get free without help.

Tarantulus observed Blackarachnia's predicament and then cackled, "It's much more fun now."

"NO!" Silverbolt screamed as he also noticed what had happened and immediately dove to save Blackarachnia.

Then, just as Tarantulus was preparing to fire his machine guns at Blackarachnia, the transmetal tarantula was engulfed in pain far fiercer then any he had felt in a battle. He recognized it as pain that occurred when Megatron tortured him through his spark fragment that was always kept on Megatron's person.

"What…why?" Tarantulus muttered out loud before Silverbolt swooped down from above and fired his wing missiles into Tarantulus's back.

The resulting explosion launched Tarantulus forward and he landed offline among several large bushes.

"Well that takes care of that," Silverbolt sighed, "Blackarachnia! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Blackarachnia growled, "Get this tree OFF me!"

"Can do!" Silverbolt answered and immediately went about lifting the tree.

Optimus placed the second energon cube down next to the first one he had tried. The Maximal commander sighed as he picked up the final cube.

"You better be the right one," Optimus said weakly to the energon cube.

Depthcharge threw another powerful punch directly into Dinobot's chest, sending the male raptor flying.

"Give it up, Predicon," Depthcharge snarled, "You can't win."

"A very ironic statement coming from you," Dinobot snarled back as he rolled to avoid being crushed by one of Depthcharge's feet.

"At least I'm not trying to destroy the Maximals from within," Depthcharge snorted back, "I'm fighting them face to face."

Depthcharge then moved to punch the Maximal raptor again when he suddenly collapsed in pain. As if Megatron were trying to torture his spark. Dinobot quickly fired his optics lasers at the transmetal manta ray at full power. Combined with the pain on his spark, the lasers successfully knocked Depthcharge out. Dinobot breathed a sigh of relief as Depthcharge slipped into stasis lock.

As Dinobot stood up he saw Optimus coming toward him.

"Well done, Dinobot," Optimus congratulated as the Maximal commander landed.

"Can you carry him?" Dinobot asked.

"Yes," Optimus nodded, "Easily."

Optimus then lifted up Depthcharge's offline body for emphasis.

"Contact the rest of our forces," Optimus commanded, "Tell them to get back to the Ark."

Dinobot nodded.

**The Ark, much later**

Depthcharge woke up slowly and felt as if his entire body was put through the wringer.

"Ohhh… where am I?" the transmetal manta asked.

"The Ark," came Rhinox's voice from in front of him.

Depthcharge looked ahead to see Optimus and Rhinox standing before him.

"I've managed to undo the personality programming that Megatron performed to make you a Predicon," Rhinox announced, "Unfortunately, I have no idea how to rejoin your spark fragment with the rest of your spark. The procedure that Megatron performed was banned by the Maximal elders because of its ethical questions. Apparently the Predicons still use 'spark torture' as a disciplinary method."

Depthcharge remained silent. Optimus now stepped forward.

"I know we've had our differences, Depthcharge," Optimus began, "but I'm perfectly willing to let you join us."

"I want the Predicon out and command," Depthcharge said quickly.

"Out of the question," Optimus responded, "Dinobot has been of tremendous value to our cause and unquestioned loyalty, and you will serve under me. You will also put aside your thirst for vengeance against Rampage."

Depthcharge glared at the Maximal commander with a tremendous deal of anger and hate.

"Or I can imprison you for insubordination," Optimus continued, "Or you can escape to be captured by Megatron and possibly lose even more of your spark."

"Which is something I'd advise against," Rhinox cut in, "Your spark is already weak from the first procedure. That's part of the reason why the Maximal elders banned the practice. Should Megatron do it to you again you could die."

"Fine," Depthcharge signed, "I'll serve, but slagging X is not ENTIRELY out of the picture. He will die one way or another."

**The Predicon Base**

Megatron sat in his command chair fuming. None of the other Predicons even dared approach him, let alone speak to him.

"Blasted Optimus," Megatron thought angrily, "Blasted Dinobot. Depthcharge could have been a quick shot at a victory."

Megatron then glanced over at a display screen that showed the transmetal driver humming away in a secret compartment elsewhere inside the Predicon base.

"But then," Megatron though, suddenly feeling more optimistic, "the war is far from over."

**The End.**


End file.
